A light was on in a little office space where Lina Moretti carried out her more boring work as a private investigator. It was nothing special - the desk was old and wooden; the lamp burning at half as it illuminated the small room; the windows were cracked, letting a nice breeze flow through the office as the dog days of summer slow turned to yield to a much more reasonably warm autumn. A standing fan blew, creaking ever so slightly as it turned back and forth, back and forth...
Opposite two empty, plain desk chairs, Moretti awaited the arrival of her partner-in-crime and their newest apprentice. Tonight as the night to determine Cynthia Weiss's fate. Would she prove a Star? Or perhaps an Emperor?
It occurred to Lina briefly that it had been a long time since she had first walked her Path, and just slightly less since she had spent much time thinking about it. A Five of Rods, they had called her. It meant little to her then, but now, as she looked at her Requiem, she realized that it hadn't been wrong.
A competitor? Sure. She always did her best. It wasn't about beating others. It was about mastering herself. Wasn't that the point of what they did in the Order, and what she sought to do to overcome her Sire's Blood?
Glancing to her cell, she wondered what it would all mean to Weiss and van Valen in the end.